Intro 2024’s alternative program, the Tranquilo Track, features bike riding classes and game nights this year.

The bike riding class is taken by internationals with widely varying bike experience levels. While a Romanian still needs to learn how to stay upright and two Spaniards have to practice rounding corners, a group from India already has some experience riding bikes in Mumbai. Everyone is given attention and a practice bike, although after the introductory part of the class the people from India decide to head to the party after all.

As part of that introduction, student diversity officer Lara Hofstra tells those present about the bike traffic rules in the Netherlands and points them toward a website that also lists the fines you’ll get for breaking those rules. In a nutshell: no more than two bikes next two each other, slow down when you see shark teeth marks, stick out your hand, don’t run red lights. And please stay on the right side of the road.

The students say that in India, biking is for kids only. “Just until they can use a moped or car.” For the practical part of the class, Hofstra gives the students three different assignments. Some have to go out onto the parking lot and master staying upright and using the handbrake, others are to ride their bikes around campus, and two students are sent to Kruisstraat, which Hofstra says is the area’s most difficult street to navigate by bike. Everyone is supervised and an hour into the class, nobody’s gotten into an accident yet.

Crocheting and drawing

Meanwhile, at Neuron, it’s both crowded and quiet at the same time. In the lounge, six groups are being creative in different ways. Some are drawing, while others are crocheting or sewing. Three guys have clearly never used a crochet hook before. The chain stitch in particular is giving them a hard time, but they are trying – and enjoying themselves. The guy at the sewing machine tells us he prefers sewing clothes over trying to talk to people at a very crowded party. The workshops are taught by members of Glyph (where students draw and paint) and Stitch (where they work with textile).